


Taking a Sick Day

by radioactivefish



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Sickfic, mild emetophobia, sick day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 21:28:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13622019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radioactivefish/pseuds/radioactivefish
Summary: The flu strikes one of the FBI's finest, and Mulder wants to help her feel better.





	Taking a Sick Day

Mulder was getting worried. Scully was never this late, and he didn’t figure she wanted to start now. He glanced down at the clock - 7:18. Their shift started at 7 and she was always there by 6:45. He decided to pick up his phone and call her, reasoning that an impatient Scully coming down the hallway right as he called was better than nothing. The phone rang for quite a while, and right when he thought the answering machine was going to pick up, he heard her quiet voice, tinged with sleep.

“Scully.”

“Scully it’s me. Where are you? Did you get caught up in traffic?”

“What? What time is it?” She asked this with an audible note of concern.

“It’s 20 minutes past 7.”

“I must have slept through my alarm” she sighed. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Just cover for me, okay?”

She threw the blankets off of herself and started to slide out of bed, now completely aware of a throbbing headache. As she made her way to the bathroom, she became aware of the dull ache in all of her muscles and a deep feeling of nausea.

“Mulder?” She asked quietly, now standing in the doorway to her bedroom.

“I’m still here. What’s wrong?” Concern started to slip into his voice.

“I can’t come in today. I think I have the flu.”

“Do you need me to bring you anything?”  
He knew what her answer would be, but he was getting ready to go to the store for her anyway. Everyone needed a little TLC while they were sick, and even he knew how to make soup.

“No, don’t worry about it. I’m fi--”

As she was speaking, a large crash echoed out of Mulder’s phone. He heard a groan, and what sounded like a phone skittering away on the hardwood floor.

“Scully? SCULLY?”

At this point, he was racing up the stairs and out the door, ignoring the stares of the other agents. He made his way to Scully’s apartment in what felt like record time, thanking his lucky stars that he didn’t get pulled over. He bounded up the front steps and skidded to a stop in front of her door, using his key to open the door.

“Scully are you alright?” He began yelling as soon as he walked in the door. “Scully where ar--”

His question was cut short as he saw her lying in the hallway between her bathroom and bedroom. He raced over to her form, just as she began stirring. He knelt down beside her and pulled her face to look at his own.

“What are you doing on the floor? Are you okay?” Mulder’s eyes were tinged with worry as he asked.

“I’m fine,” Scully responded in typical fashion, before looking slightly embarrassed and continuing. “I tripped over the rug while talking to you, and I just don’t have the energy to get up and go somewhere else, so I just decided to hang out here for a while.”

Mulder opened his mouth as though he was going to speak, but she continued anyway.

“Before you go, can you bring me a blanket? I’m not ready to move yet.”

He was not about to leave her on the floor, but he went to her bed and got a thick quilt from her trunk. He unfolded it and laid it on her slight frame, tucking it under her as he went.

“Thanks. It feels better already,” Scully said as she lay back on the floor.

This was rather short lived, however, because as soon as Mulder was done wrapping her up, he hoisted her into his arms and carried her to the couch, despite the small noises of protest that she was making. She hit the couch and sank into it with a sigh as he went to her kitchen to begin making some soup.

“You don’t have to do that, Mulder. I’m not even hungry anyway.”

“C’mon, Scully, you know as well as I do that you need to have something in your system, and  
chicken soup is good for you.”

“Okay. Fine.”

\--------------------------

As Mulder finished the soup, he dished it into a small bowl and got a glass of water and took it back to the couch and set it on the coffee table. He then looked at his blanket-covered partner. She had curled herself into a ball and gone to sleep. As he looked at what he could see of her head, he could see she was sweating, and she had strands of her hair stuck to her forehead. As he pushed the hair out of her face, he noticed that her forehead felt very warm. He went and got some tylenol from the medicine cabinet, set it down with the soup and water, and began the task of waking the bundle beside him.

“Scully?” He started to gently shake her, but she did not move at all. “C’mon Scully. You need to get up, take some medicine, and eat something.”

“Mmmmmm” Scully mutters. “Later. Everything hurts and I don’t want to move.”

Mulder gently shifted the bundle of blankets containing his partner until she was in a sitting position, when he offered her the water. She hesitantly accepted it, following it with the tylenol and a couple of bites of the soup. It took about ten minutes for her to start fidgeting in her seat.

“Scully, you’re moving around an awful lot for someone who was going to sleep on the floor 45 minutes ago.”

“I just don’t feel right, Mulder. I feel like I have to keep moving.”

“You’re alright. C’mere.”

He held out his arms for her and she curled up on his side of the couch, leaning her back against his side and chest. They were both nearly asleep when Scully bolted upright, falling on the floor and wiggling out of the blankets in a matter of seconds. She ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. This completely woke Mulder up, and he was up and running to the bathroom as soon as he heard the door.

“Scully? Are you okay?” He asked gently as he opened the door.

He found her kneeling in front of the toilet, coughing and heaving what little bit of food was in her stomach. He held her hair back from her face until she slumped over onto her side, resting her face against the cool porcelain.

After a few minutes, when they were both sure that Scully’s heaving had stopped, Mulder picked her up and brought her to the couch again, and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders.

“Drink some more water, Scully. You need to make sure you don’t get dehydrated.”

“I know, Mulder. Which one of us is the doctor here?” This prompted a smirk from both of them.

“I don’t think you’re in any condition to be a doctor today, so let me play nurse for a little while, okay?” He chuckled at his own words, and kissed her gently on the forehead. She grabbed his hand before he could go very far.

“Can you just stay here with me for a little while? I don’t like to be alone while I’m sick.”

“I think that can be arranged.”

Scully curled up into his side as they sat on the couch, and before too long, she fell asleep. Mulder picked her up and took her to her bed, tucked her in, and laid a cool compress over her forehead.

He busied himself around her apartment, cleaning what he could. When he heard her get out of bed a couple hours later, he went to meet her in the hallway.

“Feeling better?” He asked, with a hand gently rubbing her shoulder.

“A little bit. Do you have any of that soup left?”

“Sure. Go sit down and I’ll heat it up.”

They both ate soup in silence, save for the occasional sound of spoons hitting the bowls, and Mulder’s slurping. When they were finally done, they sat back on the couch and turned on the tv. It was some kind of game show, but Mulder wasn’t really paying attention. Scully had dozed off again, but she was cuddling his arm like a child would a teddy bear. He loved having her close, and she rarely showed this kind of affection while she was well. He settled into the couch, putting her head on his shoulder, and his head gently on hers. They both drifted into sleep, far more content than they should have been on a sick day. 


End file.
